One Crazy Day
by kimkeller.sw
Summary: Based on the movie One Fine Day. Delphine Cormier and Cosima Neihaus meet one morning when an overwhelmed Cosima is left last minute with Kira and forgets that Delphine was to take her to school with her own son. This leads to tension between the pair but a need to rely on each other to survive the day.
1. Chapter 1

Delphine has herself propped up on the couch with her laptop sitting on her thighs, a half eaten cookie hanging out of her mouth. She is finishing up this week's round of bills and finds herself frustrated at the amount left in her bank account after she's done. With her golden curls tied up on her head and her legs kept warm by a loose fitting pair of sweatpants, she looks every bit ready for bed. With a roll of her eyes and a puff of air blowing her hair out of her face, Delphine sets her laptop aside and heads for the kitchen to pack her son's lunch for the morning. Life has been chaotic since she divorced Paul over a year ago, and she has found herself having the bulk of the responsibility in raising Robin. Not much has changed with Paul as a father over that time with him still choosing his job in the army over spending time with their son. Although she has learned to get by as a single parent, Delphine still finds it hard to keep a positive attitude when she sees Robin's heart broken by his father. She is the one left holding the pieces when Paul misses yet another school event or holiday, but she tries her best to make Robin's childhood a happy one.

After cleaning the paperwork and research she needs for her seminar tomorrow off the bed, she settles into the warmth of her sheets. This fall has produced some colder, wetter days, most filled with frustrations she is barely hanging on through, and Delphine has found that her bedroom is her safe haven. About four minutes into her attempt to sleep, her eye pops open at the sound of Robin's feet padding into her room.

"Maman, can I have a glass of water? I'm really thirsty."

Delphine pries herself out of the comfort of her personal cocoon and trudges through the halls to the kitchen. She sits on Robin's bed while he finishes up his glass of water. She can tell that he is having a hard time sleeping, too much excitement over his class' field trip in the morning.

"And we're going to be on a double decker bus! We need to get there early so I can sit on top. I won't be able to see much if I'm not up there, so we will have to hurry in the morning."

Delphine groggily agreed with Robin's plan and was halfway to another round of dozing with her head propped up by her hand when her son's soft voice chimed in again.

"Daddy's coming to my soccer game tomorrow, right? I want him to see how much better I've gotten!"

"Remember what I said about his work being important with the army? He is really busy, mon petit chou chou, but he is going to try hard. Really hard! But now it's time to go to sleep. We both have a big day tomorrow. I love you to the moon and back!" Delphine sing songs to her now heavy lidded son.

"Do you love him, maman? Do you love daddy?" Robin says half into his pillow.

Delphine adoringly looked down on her son, who looks far too much like her ex-husband. Being in these types of positions has become the norm for her, and she replies, "I will always love your daddy because he gave me you. Now go to sleep!" With another kiss on Robin's forehead, she heads back into the comfort of her own room, hoping to sleep herself with the excitement of what the next day could hold for their future.

* * *

 _It's 7:16am. Who in the name of whatever may or may not be out there is knocking on my door this damn early?! Someone IS knocking, right? Note to self: no more baking and Rune Wars til the early morning on a work day._ Cosima throws the duvet off of her body and kicks her legs like a child not wanting to go to school. "Okay okay I'm coming," she spits out to whoever is behind her front door while she gathers the strength to use her legs again. She stands on her tiptoes to take a peek at the intruder only to be answered with, "Oi! I see you, Cos. Open the bloody door!" Sarah at a normal time of day is hard to swallow, but this early only spells trouble in Cosima's mind.

As soon as Cosima has the deadbolt turned, her sister Sarah is busting through like a woman on mission with her daughter Kira at her side. "Hey monkey," Cosima says while lifting up her glasses and wiping the sleep out of her eyes. "Mornin' Auntie Cosima. Mom says I'm going to stay with you for a whole week! We're going to have so much fun."

"You bet we - wait what! Sarah, why do you have a suitcase? And for the love of Darwin, why are you in my apartment this early?!" Cosima yelped.

"Listen, Cos, you know Cal and I haven't been in the best of places recently, yeah? Well we decided that we needed to get away to try to work on things. We're headed to Jamaica for the week and needed last minute help with watching Kira. Cal's downstairs in the car, hoping you'll say yes. And I know it's not usually your cup of tea to be tied down to another human being, but Alison fell through late last night. She is off planning who knows what festival this time and didn't seem fit to watch her own kids let alone mine right now. If you know what I mean," Sarah said as she made a motion to with her thumb and pinky fingers letting Cosima know that their sister is back to boozing.

Cosima shook her head, dreads tossing back and forth. "Sarah, you know how busy I am right now, too. I'm on the verge of a breakthrough with that stem cell line I'm working on. I need to spend all my free time in the lab."

"Is that what you were doing last night?" Sarah barks at her sister.

"Oh don't be a bitch. You know I can handle work and play. Just on my own terms!"

"You know I wouldn't put this on you if I had ANY other options. Felix is out of town opening his art exhibit. Helena is, well, Helena. I would buy her groceries for the week, but they would be gone by tonight. I would most likely come back to my daughter being part wolf and knowing how to use a bow and arrow to survive. Just please, Cos, help me this once. The tickets are non-refundable!"

"Alright I can watch the little monster. C'mere monkey!" Cosima croutches and growls as she chases her niece around the tiny apartment.

Sarah tries to finalize plans through the giggles and growls coming from the other room. "Here's a list of numbers that you may need. I've got her pediatrician on here as well as Mrs. S if there is an emergency." After muffled "uh huhs" she proceeds, "and Cos, my neighbor is willing to take Kira to school for you, but you need to be at her apartment before 8am. Her name is Delphine Cormier, and her apartment is 324 in my building. Cosima, are you listening?"

"Yeah. Yep, Delphine Cormier, 324. Hella French...how could I forget!" Cosima says with an awful attempt at the European accent.

"If you don't need her help, make sure you call her to let her know. Okay, Cos? Call Delphine and set things up if you need help." She looks at her phone. "Shite! I gotta go. Bye monkey! Have fun with Cosima!" After a few kisses and hugs, Sarah runs out the door.

* * *

 _8:10am_

Delphine, carrying her briefcase, purse, and sloshing bowl filled with Robin's class goldfish, finally shuts her apartment door behind her. The two of them get into the elevator and hit the button for the floor of her friend, Sarah, who she has agreed to help with getting her daughter to school. After a few knocks on the door without answer, Robin suggests that she pound on it. Three minutes of waiting and a painful palm later, Delphine gives up on her attempt to be a good neighbor.

"Maman we have to hurry! We can't be late for my field trip. Stupid Kira is going to mess everything up!"

Dragging her son behind her, Delphine walks as fast as her long legs will carry her, stopping only once to tie Robin's shoe.

"We're going to miss my field trip, aren't we?" Robin whined.

"No they won't leave on time," Delphine offered in an effort to cheer him up. "We'll make it I promise. But let's run just in case! Allez, allez!"

* * *

 _8:43am_

Walking down the crowded pavement, Cosima carried Kira on her back, in no hurry whatsoever. "Hey, monkey, what time does your school start?"

Kira giggled into Cosima's dreadlocks, "I don't know!"

"It probably starts around 9am. Everything starts around that time. We're going to try hard to be early for once. What street is your school on?" Cosima questioned her niece only to receive the same response of not knowing. "Ok well we may be in trouble then. Let's hurry!" She started galloping down the sidewalk causing Kira to hold on tighter and laugh louder than before with Cosima neighing as she skipped.

* * *

 _9:16am_

Delphine and Robin stop at the door to Glendale Elementary School, blonde curls covering the woman's face as she hunches over to catch her breath. As she regains her composure and sets the emptier fish bowl down, she notices the sign on the door confirming that they did, in fact, miss the class for the field trip. Behind them, a voice is reading the same note.

"The Toronto bus tour field trip has left. Sorry we missed you!" Cosima looks between her niece and the woman she is sharing personal space with. She can't help but be taken aback by the different colors adorning the woman's eyes...as well as the anger set within them. "That's a big uh oh, right?" she states attempting to ease the tension with one of her disarming smiles.

Although Delphine can't help but admit that the woman's smile is adorable, she refuses to be won over by her charm. "You must be Sarah's sister." With arms folded over her chest, the blonde waits for the response from the bumbling shorter woman. She cocks her head forward with an eyebrow raised attempting to coerce an answer from her while the two children mumble greetings to each other.

Cosima continues to evaluate the beauty in front of her, finding her anger a turn on instead of something to be deterred by. She cannot stop herself from dragging her eyes along the length of the woman noticing that the newly started rain has caused her perfectly straightened hair to start curling at the edges. Delphine is clad in a perfectly tailored suit, one that Cosima feels is meant to emanate power. _I wouldn't mind being bossed around by her. Anytime._ Finally being burned by the intensity of the woman's glare on her, Cosima starts to dig in her pockets for the list her sister provided.

"And you must be...Oh wait here it is. 'Don't forget to call...Delphine Cormier!' Sarah underlined it three times," she said with a grimace of remorse. "Sorry we're late today. I'm kinda always late so kinda always sorry." Cosima offered as a white flag to the obviously seething woman. "Why do you assume I'm her sister?"

"Well first of all, that's Sarah's daughter, and she's told me about her irresponsible sister, uh Cosima, is it?"

"In the flesh!" Another one of those cheeky smiles with her tongue poking out.

"Enchantee…" Delphine mutters sarcastically, rolling her eyes at the shorter woman's arrogance.

"Enchantee to yo-" Cosima attempts but is quickly cut off.

"Listen, I have a busy day to get to and can't keep chatting here," she forces as she rushes away through the rain to hail a taxi.

Cosima and Kira stand dumbfounded at the reception given by the French woman, but the brunette is motivated to not let her get away with that as the only impression of her. She glances down to see a bowl of traumatized fish left behind and gathers it in her arms, running after the open door to the taxi.

After the two children complain about sitting next to each other, Cosima finds herself pressed thigh to thigh with the most beautiful woman she has ever seen. She has never been one to not win over a woman she desires and finds the challenge with Delphine one she is up to tackling. As she adjusts to the small confines of the back seat, water from the bowl sloshes onto her lap.

"Would you please...just take those? Thank you!" Cosima growls as she shoves the fish back into the lap of the disgruntled French woman.

"I don't get why you have a bad attitude when you're the one to blame for both of these kids probably missing their field trip," Delphine exclaimed.

"My attitude is just a chemical reaction based off of your attitude."

"Chemical reaction? You must be in the sciences."

"Let me guess, you have a bad taste for scientists. Maybe an ex was one of us geeks? Trust me, I could show you that we're not all alike," Cosima purrs suggestively.

"No my ex-husband is in the military."

Cosima hums at the response as she opens up a magazine and reads the latest article she wrote for the journal. She snorts and shows it to Kira who gives her a thumbs up.

She attempts to show off her accomplishments as a way of proving to Delphine that she isn't just an irresponsible babysitter. Unfortunately, she was met with scorn. "I don't need to read that. I already have an opinion of you."

The French woman goes back to ignoring her unwanted company in the backseat and makes a call for help. "Krystal! It's me. I need a huge favor. Can you watch Robin today? He's missed his bus for his field trip, and I've got to get to work as soon as possible."

"OMG I would but I've got like six appointments today. Why did he miss his bus?"

"Oh there's this woman, my neighbor's sister, who obviously thinks that a minor amount of charm and wit replaces the need to be responsible, and she has caused Robin to miss his field trip."

Beside the adults, Robin whispers, "My mom hates your aunt."

"So? My aunt hates your mom!" Kira challenged.

Over being ignored, Cosima reasons that she will try another tactic to win Delphine's favor. There has to be some way to break through the tough exterior she has. _Let's see if I can make her blush._ She picks up her phone. "Hey just calling to see if you're wearing panties? What color are they?"

Her virgin lab partner, Scott on the other line retorted "W-what?" Cosima glanced over at the blonde, hoping to get the reaction she was looking for. She was met with a scowl and another bout of rolled eyes. Delphine was lucky those eyes were mesmerizing or rolling them would get old.

Delphine sneered into the phone, "If I ever act interested in another person again, will you please shoot me?"

The indirect banter continued with Cosima loudly announcing "Rainbow!" into the phone at her imaginary paramour, met with the giggle of her niece.

"No, Krystal, I will not leave him at the Glendale drop in center. You know he hates it there. You're my best friend. You can't figure out a way to help me? I have this seminar to facilitate later that could lead to a big promotion for me, and you can't help?"

Krystal answered, "I'm sorry sweetie, but I've got too many clients lined up and a party to attend with coworkers later tonight. Why don't you get a nanny?"

Biting her lip, Delphine was faced again with the realities and challenges of being a single parent. "Ugh. I can't afford a nanny," she says quietly.

Cosima listened on as the car was tussled around the pot hole riddled streets. "You're with a girl aren't you?" Scott asked.

"Yeah a real super hero. Thinks she has it all together but is really a mess."

This got the blonde's attention. "Excuse me, are you talking about me?"

"No no. Hillary Clinton-my friend's really worried about her health over the past few months. She's been 'with her' this whole time."

Delphine lets out an exasperated sigh, "So Krys, you really can't help me? Ok ok nevermind. Thanks anyway. Ciao."

Cosima gets off the phone around the same time and smirks over to Delphine. They make eye contact, and the brunette opens her mouth to say something witty. Before she has a chance Delphine shifts away from her and looks out the window.

* * *

 _9:48am_

Finally pulling up to the bus depot, the four scramble out of the cab, the children happy that there are still buses in the station. As they run to look inside the first one, they are met with nothing but empty chairs and no driver. Delphine, running in stiletto heels, has the fishbowl sloshing all over the pavement and her outfit. Cosima makes an offer to carry it, only to have the taller woman hold it closer to her chest and refuse. Not willing to fight with her more, Cosima runs to the last bus in the station only to be greeted by a number of smiling faces of a tour of elderly people.

"It was the first bus. I'm telling you it was the _first_ bus," Delphine hissed.

"It wasn't the first bus. There was no one even on the first bus!"

Finally admitting defeat, Delphine sinks down to her son's level. "Oh who wants to go on a double decker bus in the rain anyway." Robin puts his head down with a frown on his lips. "I know. You did."

"Alright listen Delphine. I want to make this up to you. You, too, kiddo," Cosima says while pointing at Robin. "Here's an idea...I watch the kids while you have your seminar. I overheard you talking about that on the phone. And then you can watch them while I do some work in my lab later this afternoon. It will only take like an hour or so."

"I'm sorry, but I only let incredibly responsible people watch my child."

Feigning hurt, Cosima bargained with the taller woman. "Oh hey I'm a lot more responsible than I look."

Kira looks up to her with pleading eyes. "Auntie Cosima I'm hungry."

"Uhhh...I've got TicTacs. You want a TicTac? It's all I got," she offers.

The blonde pulls a bag from her purse with a muffin in it and hands it to Kira. "Thank you Delphine."

"You're welcome ma cherie." She looks at Cosima with an unimpressed look, "You were saying?"

"I was just saying that maybe, uh, maybe we could help each other out. Ya know, for everyone's sakes."

Cosima looks down at the two children, trying to urge Delphine to use them as motivation to trust her. The kids play with the older women's cell phones and pretend to call each other while passing the devices back and forth.

"Well…" Delphine starts. _I can't believe I'm willing to trust this woman I barely know. But I'm desperate. And she does seem to have a good heart._

Cosima, while waiting for Delphine's response, sees another mother pull up on a Vespa with her son and puts on her 100-watt smile. "Looks like you missed the bus, too" she says with a wink.

Delphine straightens up and brushes her hair out of her face, obviously annoyed by Cosima's flirting. "You know, I don't NEED your help. And if I did, you would be the very last person I would turn to." She shoves the bowl of water into the shorter woman's arms. "These are the class fish and were supposed to be back in the school this morning. Now they are spending the day with you." She looks away, searching for anything to get her out of this situation. "Oh a cab! C'mon Robin let's go!" She grabs the boy's arm and drags him over to the yellow vehicle.

Staring blankly at the response she was given by the enticing, yet infuriating woman, Cosima looked down and smirked at her niece. "Do me a favor. Don't be like that when you grow up!" She took her phone back from Kira and moved to flag down their own ride.


	2. Chapter 2

Kira sat snug in a chair in the corner of the therapist's office, only being able to see slightly above the edge of the enormous cherry wood desk. She kept herself busy putting together a life size model of the different lobes of the brain while Cosima had her weekly session with Dr. Nealon. The dreadlocked woman realized that smoking pot helped to ease her racing mind only so much and had been going to therapy for just under a year. She found herself especially flustered by the events of the morning and could not stop the gorgeous blonde and what she had said from renting space in her head, grateful that she had an adult to process it with.

"So I can't shake the notion that people consider me to be irresponsible and unreliable, and I want to be able to prove to them that there's more to me than just their assumptions." Cosima had both hands raised, fingers spread wide to make her point. "I'm kind of like an Eskimo Pie, ya know, where I have this hard chocolate shell that makes me seem selfish and too career driven, but there's something deeper there if people would look hard enough. Like I've got this really sweet vanilla ice cream inside of me, and I wish I could find someone who appreciates that. I mean-"

"Auntie Cosima, I'm still hungry," Kira's soft voice chimed in from behind her.

"I know monkey. We'll get you something as soon as I'm done talking to Dr. Nealon." She glances up at the clock and with soft eyes looks back at her niece. "Only like ten more minutes, I promise."

"Lately I feel like I attract bitter, indignant...uh…" Cosima looks to Kira before finishing her statement, not wanting the little girl to be privy to information too mature for her young ears. She notices the bowl sitting next her niece on the desk, "...fish...who demand a lot from me but won't trust me enough to handle it. It's like they want to be taken care of but only on their own terms, and I feel like I have 'sucker' written on my face with the last few fish I've met."

The corner of Dr. Nealon's lip curls upward at his patient's frustration. "Well as they say, there are plenty of fish in the sea, Cosima," he offers smugly like he invented the statement himself.

"Obvs. I just wish I could find a fish who, who wasn't afraid of my vanilla ice cream layer. I think my ex may have turned me off to all other fish completely." She shakes her head, sighing. "I mean I met a true piranha this morning. She may be the most beautiful creature I have ever seen, with eyes you could get swallowed by and a smile that could melt anyone, not that I was allowed to see it much. But man were her teeth sharp as hell, and I'm still recovering from the bite. And to end it all, she shoved her fish in my face," Cosima trailed off.

"In front of your niece?!" Nealon piped up with an appalled expression resting in the wrinkles on his forehead.

"Yeah. What are you talking about?" Cosima questioned, eyebrows raised.

Gesturing to his chest with open palms, "She put her fish in your face? In front of children?"

"Fish? Oh! Oh no, _fish_ -fish," Cosima chuckled as she pointed with her thumb to the classroom pets next to Kira.

This explanation appeared to appease Dr. Nealon as he did not push the topic further with his patient, fearful that the topic would become too difficult for him to follow, let alone the little girl. The two voiced their goodbyes to the therapist and made their way to the nearest restaurant to calm the child's rumbling stomach.

* * *

Delphine's heels clacked along the tile as she marched her way to her department, Robin in tow with the tips of his fingers being grasped by his rushing mother. The French woman was up for a promotion at the local university and was to preside over a seminar about the criminal justice system that could be a stepping stone to her becoming the department head.

"Ecouter, Robin. Today is very important for me, and I need you to be on your best behavior! Can you do that for me?" With an exaggerated nod of his head, they proceeded down the hallway. An older gentleman, heading into the same office, stopped to hold the door for them.

"Non, please after you," Delphine insisted.

"Oh it would be my pleasure. Please," the man said as his hand cut through the air offering passage.

"No really. I insist." At this assertion, the blonde's agitation was obvious. Sensing that it was a losing battle, the man rescinded his offer and went in ahead of the her.

Skidding to a stop in front of the reception desk, Delphine inquired about the mood of her boss to the young man working there.

"Mr. Chavalier is up to his usual antics. He's already huffing and puffing about you being late, and of course he has yet another ailment he is complaining on about. His grandkids visited this weekend, and you know his thoughts on them. 'Children are good for nothing but carrying disease!'" the man says in a deep, English accent.

Noticing Delphine's grimace at his words, the assistant looks down beside her and into the green eyes of the little boy. "Oh you've got to be kidding me! No, no way!"

"Please, Colin, you've got to help me. He missed his field trip, and I didn't have any other options. I just have to meet with Ferdinand for a few minutes to review the agenda for the seminar, and then we'll be out of your hair. He's got his backpack filled with toys. You'll barely even notice him!"

Reaching an agreement with her blessing of a coworker, Delphine heads to her office to begin gathering the visual aids she had developed for the seminar to get approval from her boss. The majority of the materials were able to be brought to the reception desk in one trip, but she had to set them down there to retrieve the rest. Colin, seeing that she was having difficulty wrangling the items on her own, followed her down the hallway to be of assistance. A loud crash bellowed from the front and set the two jogging toward the noise. Robin stood with his lips sucked into his mouth and his brows knit together looking at the shattered coffee cup on the floor next to him. The coffee had managed to get on almost every square inch of the visual aids causing a squeak to be forced out of the blonde's mouth, which she quickly attempted to cover while crouching down in emotional pain.

"Don't panic! I have these saved on a flash drive in my drawer. You'll just have to run by the shop to have them printed off again," Colin suggested in an attempt to calm the woman.

Narrowing her eyes at Robin and pointing to a chair next to the desk, Delphine nearly shouted, "Sit. Down."

Letting out a puff of air, she huffed into Ferdinand's office. After devising a story about the posters not being ready yet after she made an attempt to pick them up this morning, Delphine was able to convince her boss that she would be prepared and confident when 2pm rolled around for the department seminar. Walking out of the office and motioning for Robin to join her, she grabbed the flash drive from Colin and journeyed toward the exit. Before reaching the door, a voice called out to her. "I want to remind you how important this seminar is for this department as well as for you, Ms. Cormier," her boss stressed to her, peering out from his office.

"Oh I'm aware, sir! It will be great."

With a frown on his face, Ferdinand appeared to notice Robin standing at the tall woman's side. He reached into his pocket to pull out a handkerchief, covering his mouth.

"Who is this?" he sneered.

Not wanting to add fuel to her boss' already blazing fire for her actions this morning, she attempted to distract from the situation. "He was wandering in the office. I was just going to help him find his mother."

"Do you know what I see when I look at him?"

"What is that, sir?" she questioned hopefully.

"A petrie dish."

"Oh I'm sure he isn't a petrie di-" she was interrupted by Robin coughing. Rolling her eyes she snapped, "I'm going to go find his mother."

Once outside in the fresh air, Delphine stopped as the sound of buzzing came from her jacket pocket.

"Allo?" Delphine spat, still frustrated by the events of the morning.

"You're late. Where in the hell are you? You better get right over here!" came a growling voice from the other end.

Confused by the accusations and unaware of who was calling, the blonde was unable to force out anything more than grunt.

"Rachel Duncan has called a press conference about a breakthrough with a new gene therapy technique that YOU were supposedly working on. While you were so busy talking to your coworkers about rainbow panties, your work was being stolen right out from underneath you!"

Recognizing the reason for the confusion, Delphine hung up without acknowledging the other person. She sneered at the phone thinking _that insufferable Cosima continues to make my day harder! Because of her cheeky, nonchalant attitude, I have to take Robin to the drop in center. He is not going to be happy, but today's success will make it all worth it. I will be a better mom when I get the promotion._ She took her son's hand again and looked to hail a cab. Once she was settled into her seat, she took out Cosima's phone, and made sure to text Krystal and Colin the number in case of an emergency. She figured she also should try to set up a way to get her own phone back, and she dialed her own number.

Cosima was laughing as she answered, "H-h-hello!"

"This is Delphine Cormier, we had the pleasure of meeting earlier."

"Oh hey Delphine. How did you get this number?" Cosima replied, trying to sound as charming as possible but also with an air of maturity laced through it.

"It's actually my phone I'm calling. The kids must have switched them up this morning," stated in the most polite tone she could muster for the woman.

"Classic you, Delphine" Cosima giggled trying to ease a laugh out of the blonde.

"Excuse me, but if you weren't so busy ruining my day and my son's along with it, this wouldn't have happened."

"Look I was just trying to play around with you. Let's move past our earlier problems and get a plan in place."

"Oui that sounds good. I also wanted to give you a message I got from someone calling from your work I'm assuming. A Rachel Duncan is having a press conference this afternoon about something sciencey, and your boss did not sound happy."

"Hmph I'll figure that out when I get to the lab in a few. Thanks for the message," Cosima smiled into the phone. "How about we plan to switch phones tomorrow morning when we drop off the kids to school?"

Delphine scoffed. "On time?" she said annoyed.

"I can't promise anything. Like I said, kinda always late. But I will do anything for you, Delphine!"

"D'accord!"

Before Cosima had a chance to try to impress the exotic beauty any further, the line was disconnected. She let out a sigh and grabbed Kira's hand to hurry, already late for work.

* * *

Cosima and Kira skip into the building and head toward her lab while giggling at cheesy science jokes the older woman has been cracking on the trip over. Up ahead, they notice a couple of lab techs and return to a normal walk.

"Hey Cosima!" a blonde haired woman with glasses purrs at her as she passes by.

"Oh good morning Bobby!" Cosima says as she flashes her smile with her eye teeth highlighting her best feature.

"Lookin' good, Cos," a shorter woman with sparkling blue eyes whispers in the brunette's ear loud enough for her niece to hear. With a wink, the woman turns the corner and into their lab.

"Heyyy Cosima. Lookin' good," Kira imitates while batting her eyes up at her aunt, giggling. "Seems like a lot of the girls around here like you, Auntie Cosima."

"Yeah well they'll grow out of it," Cosima hoped, trying to change the subject. "Wait till you see my top secret lab! Don't worry. I'll protect you from the mutants!"

With a beep from her key card, the door to the lab swung open. Sitting in the chill zone holding a cat on his lap, Scott smiled goofily up at them as the two strolled in.

"Hey Scotty boy! What's Denise doing here today?"

"Oh her asthma's really been acting up, and I thought a sterile environment could really help her out. You can come pet her if you'd like. She loves cuddles," he said while motioning for Kira to come sit with him.

Cosima sets the fish bowl down that she'd been carrying for blocks and got a report from her lab partner about the message she got from Delphine.

"Leekie is not happy. Like at all. He is thinking that there may be a mole in our lab."

"I've got a lead for you, Cosima," Shay, the shorter woman flirting with her before, offered. "Evie Cho defected from Duncan's corporation on bad terms and is willing to go on the record about how Rachel has been stealing our data."

Scott chimed in. "That would be huge. Do you think she would be willing to speak at the press conference?"

"She might be. I'm sure if Cosima was able to talk to her, she'd definitely do it. You can be quite charming, and most people would be willing to give you anything you want," Shay said as she brushed up against the dreadlocked woman's side.

Cosima backed away a bit. "Okay yeah. Shay if you could get me her information, I will make it a point to track her down today. Can you guys let Leekie know that I'm on it, and that I'll be there with Evie at 5pm for that press conference?" Her coworkers nodded.

"Auntie Cosima?"

"You guys are the best. Thanks for helping me out with this. I've got so much on my plate today with the little one and all, so thanks!"

"Cosima?"

"Yeah Kir? What's up?"

"Um…" Kira looked worried but busted out into a chuckle. "Denise ate my class fish."

 _Delphine is gonna KILL me._

"We'll figure it out, kiddo. Alright, time for plan B. I know you're not gonna like this, but you're going to have to go to the drop in center while I run around for work this afternoon."

"But-" Kira started.

"I know. I'm sorry. What I want you to do while you're there is think of 500 things you want to do this week, and I promise I will do at least 400 of them. Deal?" Cosima smiled with pleading eyes.

"Deal!"

Cosima walks over to Shay and hands her a post it with Delphine's number on it. "This is how you can reach me today. I'll have my own phone back tomorrow. You get any more leads about Evie or Rachel, call me!" she shouted as she gets in the elevator, and the doors begin to close.

* * *

Delphine kneels down to look her son in the eyes as she takes off her watch. "I will be back to pick you up at 4:45pm. That's when the big hand is here," she says pointing to the watch, "and the little hand is here."

"I'm sorry, maman."

"Ma cherie, you are not being punished. I just have a lot to do today, and it's not a fun day for a little boy. I will be back before you know it!"

They walk hand in hand to the outside fence of the playground where it appears that the kids there are dressed up as Disney characters.

"He can't come in. He isn't even dressed up," a rude Buzz Lightyear yells at them.

"Don't listen to them, Robin. We'll figure something out when we get inside," his mother assured him, leading the way into the building.

Delphine and Robin venture into the lobby of the drop in center to check in where they notice a little girl sitting with a large knit beanie on her head watching a puppet show. The voice of what Delphine believes to be the Swedish chef from the Muppets comes from the puppet talking to the child.

"Werdy berdy ber. I vill be back at 4:30pm. You get to vear my VitBit so that you vill know ze time," the puppet announced as Delphine watched, chuckling with Robin.

"But I don't have a costume," the child pouted.

"A costume? Vhat can ve do for a costume?" As the blonde woman smiled on, the voice changed as the puppeteer lifted above the stage. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I don't have a costume."

Delphine's face fell, replaced by an instant scowl, as she saw Cosima peer out from behind the curtain.

"Oh" is all that the French woman could say at the surprise.

"H-hey!" Cosima said softer and less confident than she sounded earlier in the day.

Ignoring the brunette, Delphine turned her attention to the little girl with her head half hidden by the hat. "Kira! Kira, ma cherie. Look who it is. You and Robin will be here together. It will be so much fun!"

Cosima fully stood up stretching out her back as she turned toward those beautiful hazel eyes. "I thought you told your friend that you weren't going to bring him here?"

"Je sais. But things got out of control, and I am desperate."

"Ditto. Obvs." Cosima offered a half smile toward the obviously stressed woman.

Turning toward the two forlorn children, Delphine attempted to offer fun and hope to them. "So it looks like we need two Disney characters, and fast, non?" Two smiles beamed up at the adults in return.

The resourceful blonde started digging through her oversized purse, searching for any materials she could use to build worthwhile costumes for the desperate children. Out comes two different colors of duct tape, pantyhose, headbands, poncho, toy gun, and other random items that Cosima could only stare in bewilderment.

"Where do you get a bag like that? You're like a magician!" Cosima praised Delphine.

For the first time all day, Cosima was rewarded with a genuine smile that she swore she wouldn't come back from. She felt a rush of adrenaline course through her body at the sight, and the hair on the back of her neck stood at attention. _This woman is so unpredictable. Not only is she angelic, but she makes me speechless. Why am I so drawn to her?_

"Voila!" Delphine presents the two kids to Cosima as she's lost in thought about the blonde. She coughs and straightens up as they walk toward her. "May I present to you Woody the cowboy and Princess Anna!"

"Wow guys! You look really great. Nothing is in your way of having a great time now!" She crouched down to them and gave each a high five. Delphine tilted her head and sighed at the glowing smile on her son's face at the attention.

Watching them walk into the playground, Delphine shouted after them, "If you're hurt or if any of these mean kids picks on you, call me on my cell phone. And if you can't reach me, call 911!"

Cosima chimed in, "And if any boys give you trouble, kick 'em in the balls!" Robin and Kira looked at each other and burst out laughing as the brunette threw them a wink.

Delphine scoffed at the crass statement from her short companion but giggled under her breath as well. "Ciao!"

"Bye!"

Delphine and Cosima walked in unison as they set off to handle their business. The brunette, still in awe of the other woman's generosity and imagination offered, "Thanks for that back there. I don't know what I would've done without you."

"You're welcome. It's hard enough being a kid!"

"Oh c'mon. Being a kid is awesome," Cosima joked as she unwrapped a sucker.

"You would know!" Delphine retorted with raised eyebrows.

"My mom used to tell me to find a person who would love me like a little kid because that way I would learn how to grow into a woman. I've yet to find someone to truly love my playful side. I was hoping she was out there, maybe somewhere close," Cosima injected expectantly through a wide smile.

"Good luck with that. Maturity is what is sexy, and most people already have their own kids to raise."

Cosima stopped walking and shouted after the blonde, "Maybe if you weren't so damn focused on being mature, you'd actually be able to have some friends!"

Delphine whipped around and leered down at the shorter woman. "I don't have time for friends!"

The brunette, glancing at the French woman's lips, licked her own. She leaned up toward her ear whispering "Good thing I'm not looking to be your _friend_." Cosima tipped her head back enough to offer Delphine a wink and a smirk.

With a growl, frustrated by the relentless woman as well as the response her body had to being so close to her, Delphine marched at least five steps away as she heard "Don't you want your phone back?"

Cosima stood waving the phone in her hand, smiling with her tongue peeking out from behind her teeth. With her long legs, Delphine closed the gap in seconds and snatched it out of the shorter woman's hand. Turning on a dime, she went back to near running away from the situation. She could hear Cosima yell to her from a distance.

"You're welcome. Oh, and Delphine! Good luck with your seminar!" She could almost picture the smirk on Cosima's face. Merde!


End file.
